Hi. I need some help. I live in LA county in California. Here's the situation:
My cousin Chris is a 16 year old dad who has an 8 month old baby. The girlfriend's mother passed away before the baby was born and her father is a drug addict who couldn't keep up the rent. So they were evicted. The girlfriend has been under our care since before the baby was born. She was over everyday and spent the weekends here with the permission of her father. She is considered part of the family. We have helped her with babysitting, school, any expenses, rides to doctor visits... etc...
Her sister (same age) became pregnant this past summer. Their 33 year old brother called up social services on the father for the eviction (there has been bad blood for years as he's a drug user and got his wife/the kids' mom into drugs and she passed away from hepatitis as a result). This brother hasn't been very involved in the girls' lives and hasn't been involved in the baby's at all. The other family members on her side didnt want or couldn't take her in. So my cousin's mom and her 7 kids and myself have cared for her the whole time since.
Social services came over and talked to the girlfriend last week. She has nowhere else to go so she's going to the brother's house. He's planning on some kind of guardianship over her and is filing to be the caretaker for the baby. My cousin Chris is unsure what to do. Don't they technicaly have joint custody? What can Chris do to guarantee his own visitation? Or the baby spending the night at his house? The girlfriend's brother has already said that he won't permit the girlfriend to come over and wont let the baby stay the night. My cousin will go from seeing his daughter everyday for many hours including the entire weekend to perhaps a few hours a week at best. What steps are there to take? Where can I find information on how he should deal with this? Anybody have experience with this?
Also is there free couseling or some kind of support group to help him understand things?
Thanks so much.
My cousin Chris is a 16 year old dad who has an 8 month old baby. The girlfriend's mother passed away before the baby was born and her father is a drug addict who couldn't keep up the rent. So they were evicted. The girlfriend has been under our care since before the baby was born. She was over everyday and spent the weekends here with the permission of her father. She is considered part of the family. We have helped her with babysitting, school, any expenses, rides to doctor visits... etc...
Her sister (same age) became pregnant this past summer. Their 33 year old brother called up social services on the father for the eviction (there has been bad blood for years as he's a drug user and got his wife/the kids' mom into drugs and she passed away from hepatitis as a result). This brother hasn't been very involved in the girls' lives and hasn't been involved in the baby's at all. The other family members on her side didnt want or couldn't take her in. So my cousin's mom and her 7 kids and myself have cared for her the whole time since.
Social services came over and talked to the girlfriend last week. She has nowhere else to go so she's going to the brother's house. He's planning on some kind of guardianship over her and is filing to be the caretaker for the baby. My cousin Chris is unsure what to do. Don't they technicaly have joint custody? What can Chris do to guarantee his own visitation? Or the baby spending the night at his house? The girlfriend's brother has already said that he won't permit the girlfriend to come over and wont let the baby stay the night. My cousin will go from seeing his daughter everyday for many hours including the entire weekend to perhaps a few hours a week at best. What steps are there to take? Where can I find information on how he should deal with this? Anybody have experience with this?
Also is there free couseling or some kind of support group to help him understand things?
Thanks so much.
